NY State Senator Indicted for Misallocating State Funds

New York State Senator Shirley Huntley of Queens has been indicted on charges involving misallocation of state funding for a non-profit, a scandal that comes on the heels of a sexual harassment case against a powerful Brooklyn Assemblyman.

The New York Times reports that the 74-year-old Democrat is being accused of conspiring to help a niece and an aide steal money from Parent Workshop Inc., a non-profit designed to help poor parents navigate the school system. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the scandal sheds light on the need for ethics reform in Albany…

"In some ways it's the nature of the beast but we have more work to do because our standard has to be zero tolerance," Cuomo said.

Huntley’s indictment comes just days after Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez, also a Democrat, was censured after an internal investigation substantiated sexual harassment allegations brought by two female employees in his office. The Times reported over the weekend that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had spent $103,000 of taxpayer’s money to settle at least one other sexual harassment accusation against Lopez.